Six accused of £50m mortgage fraud

Six people have been charged over a 50 million pound commercial mortgage fraud

Six people, including four solicitors, a surveyor and a property developer, have been charged over a £50 million commercial mortgage fraud.

They were at the centre of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into claims that a building society was defrauded by a series of false mortgage applications.

The suspects have appeared at City of London Magistrates' Court and were ordered to appear at Southwark Crown Court on January 4, said the SFO.

The inquiry was launched by West Midlands Police in March 2006 after a complaint from Cheshire Building Society.

The building society said mortgages were secured on six commercial investment properties but not repaid.

The properties were transferred between a network of companies with highly-inflated prices based on fraudulent valuations and forged leases.

Eventually mortgage advances of about £50 million were obtained. These were not paid back, leaving lenders with massive losses.

Chartered surveyor Ian McGarry, 40; property developer Saghir Afzal, 47; Laurence Ferrigan, 48, a partner at The CFB Partnership based in Wanstead, east London; and Simon Lawrence, 48, a partner at Darlingtons Solicitors in Edgware, north London, were charged with conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception.

Two Birmingham-based women solicitors - company owner Fatema Patwa, 47, and her employee, Hardeep Sodhi, 33 - were also charged with the same offence.